A Battle Between Brain and Heart
by Thebloodykirby
Summary: After luring Makoto towards a trap, Togami finds out something new about not only Makoto- but himself- that might just change everything. Contains Naegami, slight mentions of blood and non-graphic violence. Kyouko's in there towards the end too.


Makoto plopped down on his bed pathetically. After the third trial had eliminated three of his classmates, the Ultimate Lucky Student felt physically and emotionally exhausted. In fact, he felt so exhausted that he almost didn't notice the knock on his door and the little slip of paper that had slid under the crack of his door. Picking himself up groggily, Makoto tried rubbing the sleep from his eyes before bending down to pick up the slip of paper addressed towards him.

Naegi,

I have important matter to discuss with you, meet me in the bathhouse in five minutes. This cannot wait at all.

-Kyouko Kirigiri

Despite the letter's briefness, it took Makoto several re-reads to understand what exactly it said. Glancing at the clock, he realized that his grogginess had taken 3 minutes of his time. With a heavy groan, Makoto made his way slowly towards the bathhouse. Not bothering to question why Kyouko wanted to meet with him at 3 AM in the morning right after a busy and long trial.

Finally arriving at the bathhouse, Makoto sat down on one of the benches and had a look around. Kirigiri was not there. Makoto twisted his body from side-to-side cautiously to look for any signs of life. After finding no Kirigiri anywhere, Makoto concluded that this was obviously a trap that he was stupid enough to be lured into. Makoto suddenly felt a strong arm wrap around his throat in a headlock and a knife press up against his face.

Makoto's eyes widened as his captor had tightened their grip around the poor boy's neck, cutting off the oxygen from his brain. That action made Makoto's already sluggish brain work even worse as panic had finally kicked in. "Honestly, I didn't think that you would be baited out by such an obvious trap. For once in my life, I had under-estimated my abilities. You were much dumber than I had expected," A male voice had breathed onto Makoto's ear as the boy tried clawing at his captors arms in a vain attempt for freedom.

As the blade of the knife had slowly pressed up against Makoto's cheek, drawing a little bit of blood, Makoto's oxygen-deprived brain finally concluded that the person attempting to kill him was none other than Byakuya Togami. "B-Byakuya!" Makoto managed to rasp out in surprise. A pregnant pause ensued where the only thing currently taking place was the sensation of stinging burns on Makoto's cheek.

A small laugh released itself from Byakuya's throat, "Took you long enough to figure it out, now-" the blade suddenly made the scratch on Makoto's cheek much deeper and a lot more painful, "-any last words before I end your meaningless life?" The voice landing on Makoto's ears made chills run up the boy's spine. "I-I-" Makoto stuttered for a second due to the pain on his cheek flaring up, "I love you!" Makoto finally spat out after a second.

Suddenly, the pain in Makoto's face stopped escalating and the arm imprisoning Makoto had become a lot more loose, allowing him to breathe correctly. Another long, awkward pause where nothing of substance happened had decided to make it's presence known as Byakuya's jaw had become more slack. Byakuya grunted, frustrated that he had slipped up while doing something so important. The grip around Makoto's abused throat had become much stronger than before and the knife had been dug into Makoto's cheek deeper than before- finally eliciting tears and a soft whimper of pain from the boy.

"I see what you're doing, trying to beg for your life like the insignificant bug you are," Byakuya said, voice much shakier than he had intended it to be. "N-no! I-I-I mean it! I've al-always was attracted t-t-to you," Makoto croaked out, pained sobs and the fear of death making it hard to speak without stuttering, "You must be an even bigger idiot if you expected me to believe that senseless dribble," Byakuya spat out, voice laced with venom.

Makoto let out another large sob before speaking out once more, "P-please, Byakuya, I...I truly do love you. Ever since I-I first met y-you, I knew t-there was someone else behind t-that cold exterior...s-someone better than the person everyone hated," Makoto said, words more controlled and fluent than before. Byakuya paused for the third time that day, for he had never met anyone who thought of him as more than a prissy rich boy- well, except for Touko, but we don't talk about her. Byakuya knew that Makoto could easily be lying; then again, no one had ever said something to him with such emotion behind it.

This was truly a battle between the brain and heart for the heir. His brain told him to just get the job over with so that he could put Makoto's meaningless life to end. Yet, his heart told him to release Makoto, to look at him in the eyes and wipe away the fat tears rolling down his cheeks. Then there was what seemed like an hour of nothing except for Makoto's pained sobs- God those sobs. Never before has a human crying made Byakuya felt so much...emotion. He didn't know what emotion it was; it was something he's never felt before, and it certainly wasn't pity.

Finally, Byakuya's arm had let go of Makoto's neck. Makoto fell to the ground in surprise of the sudden release. Releasing a heavy cough from his throat and cradling his cheek, the boy looked up at Byakuya, surprise and the lingering look of horror taking up the space in his eyes- those beautiful, soft eyes that never lied. Byakuya bent down and sat in front of Makoto. "You're an idiot, you know that right?" Makoto didn't respond, instead he flinched when Byakuya extended his arms to wipe off the tears and blood on his face.

Despite Byakuya's attempts to free Makoto's face of such ugly things, Makoto's eyes kept weeping and so did his fresh wound. Makoto gradually became accustomed to Byakuya's warm, soft hand that was so free of calluses on Makoto's equally-flawless skin. Soon, eyes that held horror and something resembling despair held joy. No, that wasn't quite right...although it would've been a huge understatement to say that Makoto was happy.

Love, that was it; that was the emotion Makoto's eyes held so dearly. Before Byakuya could react, Makoto pounced on him, sending them both to the ground with his arms wrapped around Byakuya's neck in a loving fashion. Byakuya has never felt this before- this fuzzy feeling in his stomach. Perhaps it truly was what infatuation felt like, just like in all those cheesy romance novels Touko wrote. Wrapping his arms around Makoto's back, Byakuya and Makoto sat there; no words were being exchanged between, for it wasn't necessary. They let their emotions talk for themselves.

"Am I interrupting something?" Kyouko Kirigiri's normally cold, contemplative voice had suddenly broken the silence between the two boys


End file.
